MUMBAI - An Air India Mumbai-Newark flight was diverted to Kazakhstan on Thursday due to operational reasons, an official said here. The official said the flight -- AI 191 - which took off from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here around 2 a.m. was diverted to Kazakhstan where it landed safely at 7.30 a.m. All passengers and crew on board are safe and the Boeing 777 is being inspected by a team of engineers at Aktobe airport.

The official denied that there was any fire or smoke emanating from the aircraft and said the diversion was due to "operational reasons".Giving an update of the flight status, Air India tweeted: "AIUpdate: #AI191 will take off from #Kazakhstan (AKX) at 2030 Hrs local time. ETA at #Newark (EWR) is 2230 Hrs LT." It also posted: "#AI191 Delta will take off from #Delhi to #Kazakhstan (AKX) at 1500 Hrs IST. ETA at #Kazakhstan (AKX) is 1830 Hrs LT."It also said that Air India chairman A. Lohani had spoken to the pilot and all people on board are satisfied. "AI CMD, Mr Lohani spoke to Capt.Aroob. The pax are satisfied and happy that the flt safely landed in #Kazakhstan."